Battle: Los Angeles

One and a Half Stars

Battle: Los Angeles isn't a fantastic piece of cinema. Yes the camera shook all the time. It was full of "America! Fuck Yeah!" and devoid of any plot.

But it was exactly what it promised it would be, and for that I thank it.

The movie starts out with an old marine staff sergeant (Eckhart) who is whipping a few recruits into shape and about ready to resign. The "meteor shower" that is mentioned on TV quickly turns into "HOLY FUCK THEY ARE ALIENS!". Which is good, because you really can't dawdle in a movie such as this one. The military thinks they are going to "rip these aliens a new asshole", but are quickly out gunned, over powered, and overrun. Can the rundown staff sergeant and his plucky crew of marines save the day and all of Los Angeles?

If you're looking for the rest of the plot... well... there isn't one. If you are looking for a shoot 'em up with aliens and explosions, you will not be disappointed. Battle: LA is everything I thought District 9 was going to be after seeing the previews. District 9 was a fantastic movie, better then Battle: LA, but the previews for District did embellish just a little bit, (if anyone out there was expecting to see a Mech vs. Alien battle, you know what I am talking about). With District 9 I was presently surprised. With Battle: LA, I was not surprised at all, and loved it all the same.

It has a few familiar faces with Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious), and Michael Peña (Shooter) to name a few. The acting was good, and really any time you found yourself out of the movie at all it was due to bad writing, not bad acting. You can only do so much with an "aliens attack!" script i suppose.

Battle: LA site

Sundance

Event Post

The classroom meetings leading up to Sundance started on Thursday. The first film we saw was Sex Lies and Videotape, reviewed below, though I have seen it before. Today I watched the documentary Murderball for my class and The Nin9s because it looked interesting, and I will be placing a review of each up tomorrow. There is also a HUGE time laps where I just haven't been typing out and uploading any of my reviews. I will sit down, probably Tuesday after I am done packing, and write out a whole slew of posts. I might not post them until Sundance is over, but since I haven't actually started posting Sundance films, I see no harm in adding my make ups, so look for them.

The group leaves on Wednesday for Utah and I am already really really excited. I have been for a while. I love low budget Indie films. Not the low budget kind that uses cardboard space helmets from the 60's. I'm talking like Primer or Clerks. The respectable kind of low budget.

Through the class we are promised 8 Sundance movies and a few Slamdance movies as well. I know five of the movies I have tickets for. And the titles are...

The Greatest - Sat 17 3:15 PM at Eccles Theatre
500 Days of Sumer - Sat 17 6:15 PM at Eccles Theatre
Cold Souls - Sun 18 11:15 AM at Racquet Club Theatre
World's Greatest Dad - Sun 18 5:30 PM at Library Center Theatre
The Killing Room - Tue 20 11:59 PM at Egyptian Theatre

My first choice of the whole festival was It Might Get Loud, a film with 3 musicians (including Jack White) but alas I did not get in. Apparently its really really popular. I am going to try to get overflow seating.

Thats it for tonight. Until next time.

Sex Lies and Videotape

Four Stars

This is the third time I have seen this movie, but it only seems to get better. Sex, Lies and Videotape is a representation of any normal situation in life, with a few quirks. This movie has a skeletal structure that lends itself to so many romantic comedies that have reproduced throughout pop culture. The adulterous husband, siblings that just barely get along, the mysterious stranger, all these things could come straight from the Hollywood rom-com press, but Sex, Lies is by no means a romantic comedy.

Sex, Lies does include humor that becomes more apparent on the second or third time through. Unlike the romantic comedies, this humor is sad, almost ironic in some cases. The downplayed delivery by the actors allows the punch lines to remain more funny than sad. Of course this type of humor seems completely appropriate, almost expected when the entirety of the movie comes into focus.

The humor isn’t the only thing that sets this movie apart from Hollywood over-productions. The way the movie starts off with a female’s (the wife’s) voice superimposed over images of her cheating husband sets a fresh tone for the movie. This beginning coupled with the subject matter of an impotent college friend that gets off to women he has recorded talking about sex really screams, “Indie movie!”.

The only thing that remains remotely “Hollywood” is the ending. It’s by no means a happy ending, but it isn’t a sad one either. The movie’s final scene though mundane, ending in a pseudo-metaphorical discussion of the weather, creates the feeling that time simply continues on. No Hollywood sunset and no Happily Ever After.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Top Ten: Christmas Edition

10. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
This little misfit knocked off "It's A Wonderful Life" to squeak in at number 10.

9. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack Skellington is pretty cool. And I love dark humor.

8. A Muppet Christmas
A fun variation on the Scrooge story.

7. A Christmas Carrol
This is the quintessential Christmas movie.

6. Miracle on 34th Street
The original. Although you could get the remake, but its not as good.

5. Joyeux Noel
War movie based on a true story during World War I.

4. Elf
I have never known anyone to stay in character better then Will Ferrell. And Deschanel is a great mellow touch to counteract Ferrell's childlike enthusiasm.

3. Love Actually
My favorite Christmas movie, but I'm a sucker for a sappy love story. This movie has like 6 of them.

2. The Snowman
I wish I could make this number one but I can't justify it since its only half an our. It's short and sweet and can't be beat. Except by...

1. A Christmas Story
It's hard to compete with the soft glow of electric sex from the leg lamp, the gleam of a Red Rider BB gun, and Fa Ra Ra Ra Raaa Ra Ra Ra.

You'll shoot your eye out.

The Visitor

Coming soon.

The Visitor Webpage

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

One and a Half Stars

Meh. It was ok.

This isn't the best Indy ever, and in the series ranks just above the Temple of Doom, (damn you Short Round!). Anyway, some familiar faces (and artifacts!) make a reappearance, and the laughs are good enough to make it worth seeing. Definitely go see it if you have seen the first three, but that doesn't mean you have to be an Indy fan to get the movie. I took a friend and she got everything except the obvious Indy only references.

The main qualm I had with this movie was Lucasfilm. I think George got a little too many of his fingerprints on the movie. Over reliance on Computer Graphics for one thing. And oh yeah, a giant space ship. WTF? Thats not Indy.

Also, this only matters if you know anything about the crystal skulls, but they actually exist. So they are real, yet none of the skulls that make an appearance in this movie bear any resemblance to the real skulls. This lack of "actual" crystal skulls could have been easily explained away by explaining the significance of the fact that there were thirteen skulls. That may just be being picky about facts though but the two best Indiana Jones movies (Last Crusade and Raiders of the Lost Arch) were both based on very well known legends and both had realistic relics.

Thats about all that can be said against the movie really. Ford delivers a great performance, slipping on the old role like an old favorite hat (haha, get it?). Blanchet is a decent enough villain, Allen returns with her same happy-go-lucky outlook, and even LaBeouf does a good job as a headstrong greaser with something to prove, and more to learn.

Last thoughts: Worth seeing in theaters, but not a must see film of the year.

Indiana Jones Webpage

Iron Man

Four Stars

Simply put this is one of the best movies made from a comic book. I saw this movie three times.

Tony Stark, weapons producer, discovers just who is receiving his weapons shipments, and finds himself at the receiving end of his creations. Escaping captivity in the suit he dubs Mark I, Stark begins taking justice into his own, metallic hands.

The comedy, action, and character development are smart, well paced, and cater to all audiences.

I was rolling on my chair with laughter from Stark's witty remarks and comebacks. The interaction between the jokes and the storyline is perfect since it didn't overshadow the movie. The jokes meant for the younger viewers are funny no matter what age you are, and the comments slipped in for the older viewers blend in seamlessly to the movie.

The action starts minutes into the movie and climbs throughout. Explosions, guns, and iron... well gold alloy... machines are a constant throughout the movie, but the violence is by no means over stated. In a few instances the action is softened with humor as well.

Despite Tony Stark's... questionable moral choices, there are lines he will not cross. Giving weapons to the other guy is one of them. After his terrorist capture, Stark's change from pretentious playboy to vigilantly hero is believable and complete.

The animation in this film is spectacular and with the exception of one or two scenes is undetectable as computer generated.

The bottom line here is, go see this movie, you won't be disappointed. And one more thing, if you know anything about the comic book, or you just like little easter eggs, stay until after the credits. Better yet, since the credits are long enough, go relieve your bladder from the 48oz coke you just downed and then come back. There's a 15 second clip at the end that will make the next Iron Man, (oh yes, there will be more) make more sense.

Iron Man Webpage